Page 34 of A Heart of Little Faith
Gideon chuckled. “Nope, just some friends from my office and their husbands, wives, etc.”
“It’s next weekend?”
“Saturday at four.” Lily checked her calendar in her purse. “Claire has a sleepover that weekend. I’m free.”
“Wow, an entire weekend to yourself? What are you going to do?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Okay, well now you have plans for Saturday. I’ll pick you up. One of these days I’ll have to include Claire though.” He smiled, and happiness softened his features.
“Yeah, she’s starting to get jealous of us,” Lily laughed.
He leaned forward, hands clasped. “How would you feel if I picked her up from aftercare and brought her to my apartment for dinner one night? I could ask Samantha to come too if you’d feel better about it.”
Lily met his gaze. This wonderful man wanted to spend time with her daughter. Her heart was full. “No, I don’t mind her being with you. If you’re free tomorrow, I have a meeting that’s going to run late.”
His mouth widened in a grin. “Tomorrow’s great. I’ll drop her off here when we’re done eating.”
She could accept his assistance, but she didn’t want to impose. “I don’t mind picking her up, Gideon. It’ll save you the extra trip.”
“Okay, don’t rush.”
Lily turned toward the office. “Hey, Claire, do you want to have dinner with Gideon tomorrow?”
Her daughter charged out of the office and skidded to a halt in front of her and Gideon. “Yeah!” she shouted as she jumped up and down.
Gideon laughed at her enthusiasm. “You haven’t tasted my cooking yet, kiddo.”
“You’re a great cook, Gideon.” She leaped onto his lap and hugged him.
“Okay, Claire, that’s enough,” Lily interrupted, laughing. “Go get ready for bed and I’ll be in to kiss you goodnight in a minute.” Lily accompanied Gideon to the door. As she clasped the cold knob, the doorbell rang again. Tony stood in the hallway with a bottle of wine.
“Hi, Lily, hey, Gideon,” he said as he came inside. “I thought a bottle of wine might be nice,” he added. “Gideon, are you joining us?”
Gideon’s face flushed and his nostrils flared. “Nope, I’ll leave you two alone,” he said. He headed out the door. It slammed behind him and Lily frowned.
She gauged the distance between the door and Tony, trying to decide if she should chase after Gideon or not. Why would he be jealous of Tony? Taking the bottle of wine from him, she returned a minute later with glasses and a corkscrew. As she arranged everything on the coffee table, Tony took in his surroundings.
“Nice place.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“Thanks. Let me just get Claire into bed and I’ll be right back. Why don’t you pour?” She retreated into Claire’s bedroom, and returned five minutes later.
“Salut,” Tony raised a glass.
“Salut,” Lily replied.
“Gideon’s jealous,” Tony commented, his eyes crinkled in amusement.
“Why would he be jealous? He’s the one who asked you to help me out.”
“I don’t know why. I’m just telling you what I see when I look at him. And what I see is a jealous man.”
“No, it’s just him in one of his moods.” Lily swished the wine in her glass. The yellow-tinged liquid sparkled like sunshine in the light. Did she really mean enough to Gideon to make him jealous? She bit her lip.
Tony chuckled. “If you say so. After I got off the phone with you, Lil, I called the officer in charge of your case. He thinks they may have a lead, based on evidence in your apartment.”
She gasped. “That’s wonderful. Do they know who did it yet?”